It is generally well known by everyone that many collisions and accidents occurring daily are caused either by poor signaling by the drivers or by an erroneous interpretation, distraction or lack of vision of other drivers and/or pedestrians.
Specifically, an especially dangerous maneuver, especially on by-ways and local highways where there is only one lane for each direction of travel, and which are also performed daily by a great number of drivers, consists of making a turn towards the left or right on a road of this type from the central part or median of said highway. In this particular case, what the driver does is indicate that he is going to make a turn by means of the turn signal, and furthermore, he needs to step on the brake pedal to reduce speed, a consequence of which is that the rear brake light lights up.
However, said situation may lead to states of confusion for both the driver coming from straight ahead and for the driver following him, as explained below:
The driver behind he who is going to perform said maneuver may interpret that the driver is going to pass someone upon seeing the turn signal, he therefore does not reduce his speed, which can evidently lead to a situation in which a collision occurs. Furthermore, the brake light has a greater intensity than the turn signal, which on occasions may cause the latter not to be seen, such that the driver from behind does not know how to interpret that the preceding vehicle is going to perform the turn maneuver.
On the other hand, the driver coming from straight ahead to whom the turn is indicated only sees the turn signal light, he may therefore become disoriented by not knowing if the maneuver is going to consist of passing or making a turn, which may cause unforeseen reactions.
A possible solution to signal this type of maneuver consists of, in addition to actuating the turn signal and stepping on the brake, actuating the emergency indicator at time intervals, the purpose of which is to warn that an abrupt stop or halt is going to be carried out. In this manner, both the driver from behind and the driver coming from straight ahead are capable of interpreting the intentions of the driver of the vehicle turning to the left or right.
However, the solution provided is not completely safe, since the driver must release the steering wheel to manually actuate both the turn signal and the emergency lights, and he must even distract his view from the road in a situation when it is not recommendable to do so.
As a result of all that has been previously explained, and for the purpose of preventing, as much as possible, the high number of traffic accidents occurring for the reasons explained, among others, the present invention proposes an automatic signaling device for all types of automobiles on the market, which permits unmistakably warning of the need to perform turning maneuvers which imply a certain risk, without the need to remove the hands from the steering wheel.
Basically, the signaling device consists of automatically actuating the emergency lights when it coincides that a turn signal and the brake are being simultaneously used.
In order to carry this out, the device of the present invention proposes the design of a control unit, fed by the car battery, which has three inputs and multiple outputs.
The basic functioning consists of when the control unit detects two signals in two of its inputs, a continuous and another alternating or pulsating, for example a square signal simultaneously for a determined period of time, it generates a signal sequence of identical duration in its outputs during another determined time, after which time it checks if the inputs are still active, identically repeating the sequence in the affirmative case.
In this manner, it is enough to duly connect the signals, which are generated when the driver of the vehicle actuates a turn signal and steps on the brake to the corresponding inputs in the control unit, and to connect its outputs to the device generating the emergency signal in question.